Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

What the senator fails to acknowledge is that, absent policy action, emissions will rise. Absent policy action, Australia's contribution to climate change will worsen. It is a simple logical fact that if we do not do anything our contribution to climate change will worsen. If we do not put in place policies to reduce them then emissions will continue to climb. In the absence of a carbon price Australia's carbon pollution in 2020 is expected to be more than 20 per cent above 2000 levels. To achieve what is a bipartisan five per cent reduction target, Australia will need to reduce carbon pollution by about 159 million tonnes. That is about 25 per cent off business as usual. By 2050 carbon pricing is expected to reduce our domestic emissions by 485 megatonnes to nearly half what they would be without a carbon price reduction.

The difference between the government's plan and the plan Senator Cormann presumably supports is that his plan is more expensive. Senator Cormann should explain a couple of things. Firstly, why does he think that it is a good idea to tax Australian households, working families, in order to pay polluters for a policy that will not achieve an environmental outcome? In the same way, why does he not want mining companies to pay a tax they are willing to pay but wants manufacturers and small businesses to pay more? This is an opposition that has no logic and no rationale to their policies. They simply oppose everything and run scare campaigns. The difference between the government's policy and the opposition's policy—I say it again—is that our policy will cost Australians less. Their policies will cost Australians more. (Time expired)